The Inevitability of a First Kiss
by pronqs
Summary: It takes 7 years—unbearably long for him, and unbelievably irritating for her. It takes 7 years, and yet it is not a long enough time for those who love fearlessly, recklessly, completely.
1. Chapter 1

The first day they meet the sun is shining impossibly bright; later it would be recorded as one the hottest day of that year. But that didn't make the slightest difference to 11 year old Lily Evans. That day she felt she would have waded through 10 feet of snow, that day she could have walked on water, that day she felt, and perhaps she was, invincible. Because that was the day she would finally — _finally —_ be going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The crowd gathered at the train station did not part easily for the girl with fiery hair but she continued at an unrelenting pace; she couldn't be late, she couldn't miss the train. Lily turned to her parents, who, breathing fast and hard, had finally caught up to her. Wordlessly, she grabbed their hands, and clenching them tight once, let them go and grabbed her trolley. This was it; and at once the enormity of the moment loomed on her. Once she crossed the barrier, she would really truly belong to another world, one separate to the one she had known all her life. Facing the wall, she shut her eyes, braced herself and ran as fast as she could.

Her eyes snapped open once she realised she hadn't crashed into the wall, she had half expected the entire thing to be—as impossible as it now seemed—a joke, but she was met with the very welcome sight of a scarlet train, that blew steam which seemed to wave at her. The Hogwarts Express, it said on the front, and there was the proof; there were her dreams come to fruition. Turning to her parents who had followed behind her and now stared at the scene before them, which had not existed moments before, she hugged them tightly. Then, she turned to her sister who was, as she always had been recently, lagging behind. Surveying each other, it was obvious that the events of the summer made it almost impossible to part on good terms, but when Petunia unexpectedly wrapped her arms around Lily's neck —albeit only for a few seconds—Lily felt as though perhaps they weren't too far gone. Turning back to the platform, she observed the people—no, wizards—running about and spotted a very familiar face. He was standing with his parents, his black hair reaching his shoulders, his face unfortunately curled into a sneer—he had fought with his parents before leaving, then— and when two boys ran past him (bumping into him quite deliberately, she noted), his sneer only deepened. Before she could move towards him, however, her mother motioned to her watch, and Lily noticed how close she was cutting it. Grabbing her trolley and waving to her family one last time who were still more or less awestruck by their surroundings, she moved towards the train. It seemed as though every carriage she passed was full, but finally finding one near the end which was empty, she stopped beside it. Underestimating the weight of her trunk, she tried dragging it off the trolley but it fell to the ground with a crash. Turning back to where she had last seen her parents, she realised she had lost them in the crowd and now panicking slightly, she bent down and picked up her trunk again—and promptly had it taken from her shaking hands.

"Need a hand?" Was all she heard before the trunk was, in a swift motion that seemed unfairly effortless, picked up and placed on top of the steps.

"Er, thanks," Lily said, slightly taken aback.

"No problem, I'm James, by the way," the boy said, sounding a little out of breath—apparently the action hadn't been as effortless as it had seemed, and extended a hand towards her. He was just slightly shorter than her, but the way he carried himself Lily could tell his height hadn't the smallest impact on his confidence—something he reeked of. After they briefly shook hands, he grabbed the trunk while she grabbed the other end and they moved into the compartment.

"I'm Lily," she said, smiling as they finally set the trunk down in the corner of the compartment.

The train was approximately five minutes away from beginning its journey when he saw her. Her hair, if nothing else, made her stand out from the platform's grey background and contrasted sharply with the deep scarlet of the train she was struggling to board. He moved towards her instinctively since no one else seemed to be helping her.

She looked up at him as he took the trunk from her hands and his stomach twisted into unfamiliar knots. It was less the weight of the trunk and more the fact that he could so clearly see the freckles scattered across her cheeks that left him sounding breathless when he spoke next. And then, with the sun pouring in through the compartment window, with her brow furrowed and covered in sweat at the effort of holding up the trunk, with her green eyes shining brightly, she smiled. At 11 years old, James Potter was not nearly as experienced with the ways of the world as he liked to think he was, and this—this churning of his stomach, this rapid thumping of his heart against his ribcage, this sudden acute consciousness of his every movement, was all new to him.

"I'm Lily," She said, and of course she would be named something like that, something so rare and beautiful and almost regal. And he was falling and floating at the same time, although he didn't know how that was possible when he wasn't on a broom.

"Nice to meet you," He said, and that was the first lie he ever told her, because he wasn't entirely sure if he liked how she made him feel. And so, he turned around and headed out of the compartment because that was the only way to leave this feeling behind—and also because his own trunk and a very peculiar boy was waiting for him in the compartment right next to this one.

The compartment door slid shut behind James—and slid open not five seconds later as Severus walked in. Lily immediately jumped up and began saying something, but her enthusiasm was curbed when she saw the look on his face.

"What was Potter doing in here?"  
"Who? James? He was helping me with my trunk,"

A heavy silence followed, although Lily was perplexed at his reaction.

"...You should stay away from him; comes from a family of purebloods and his head's about as big as a watermelon,"

"Well he seemed nice enough—"

"Just trust me on this, Lily,"

And later, when James comes into the compartment accompanied by a friend, Lily recognizes them almost instantly—how had she missed it before?— as the boys who had bumped into Severus on the platform. Her demeanour changes completely, and James receives no more smiles from her—on that day at least.


	2. Chapter 2

Her first year at Hogwarts gradually becomes more of an amalgamation of faces and feelings, rather than a collection of events as years Sorting becomes defined by uneasy excitement, then disappointment when the Hat almost instantly places her in Gryffindor (and Severus obviously goes straight to Slytherin, and thus the first strands of future discord spread through their friendship) and then a wary happiness when she sees the scarlet and gold clad table erupt at the announcement. Her first year is spent mostly in shock, and by the end of first term, any misgivings she might have had about Gryffindor turn, quite unexpectedly, into fierce house pride. Unsurprising to everyone but her, she has no trouble making friends and by the end of first year, Alice Burke, Dorcas Meadows and Marlene McKinnon become her best friends—apart from Severus, of course. Severus, who she sees less and less of as the year passes by; Severus, who more often than not she sees hanging out with the same Slytherins who shout slurs at her when they see her alone; Severus, who is bullied then there is James Potter, who is the bully; James Potter who helped her on her very first day but who Severus turned out to be completely right about—she couldn't stand him. Sirius Black, with his wolfish grin wasn't much better, and Peter Pettigrew was treated with a sort of unconscious indifference. In fact, by the end of the year, Lily is convinced the only one from their 'clique' she can even slightly tolerate is Remus Lupin. And so, when her second year at Hogwarts begins, she has firmly found her place in the social hierarchy, and formulated opinions about everyone who may matter. However, nothing is set in stone and slowly, her opinions begin to change.  
By the end of first year, James Potter's decided he's in love—how to go about it, now that is a completely different matter. 

The summer preceding their second year is largely uneventful, although that is when the Marauders give themselves the title (blissfully unaware of how pretentious they sound).That year at the platform, Lily picks up her own trunk and shares a compartment with Severus, as well as the other Gryffindor second-years (some of whom are unwelcome). That year, James becomes only more determined to win her over, even as she blatantly ignores him on the train ride. It is also the year the Whomping Willow grows fully and Remus Lupin begins to feel slightly less lonely, first when Lily guesses his secret and then later, when the Marauders one day in November when the moon is new and barely visible, when the wind bites hard at Lily's cheeks, she watches Remus laugh—really laugh, for the first time since she's known him, and decides that perhaps she had been somewhat wrong about James Potter. If nothing else, he was unfailingly loyal to his friends, prepared to stand up for them at every turn, and that was something she couldn't help but admire. Lily's new-found appreciation for James' better qualities quite predictably causes arguments between her and Severus;  
("Are you _defending_ Potter? Do you know what he said to me tod-"  
"I'm not defending how he treats you! God, Severus, I can't say anything without you attack me!"  
"Well-").  
And they don't speak for days, days during which Lily bonds with Alice, days during which she lets herself listen to what everyone says about Slytherin. Days during which she finds herself speaking to Sirius Black more and more; suddenly having a lot in common in terms of having someone they care about in a house so widely disliked. 

Sirius Black found himself stuck in somewhat of a conundrum. While he was somewhat infamous for hating his family, he never could find it within him to extend that hatred towards his little brother. And as his luck would have it, the one thing he needed to talk about was the only thing the Marauders had no advice to offer on. He found himself withdrawing; spending more time alone, thinking about his brother. The pro-You-Know-Who propaganda his parents had recently been spouting would no doubt encourage Regulus to join the Death Eaters (or as the Marauders called them: the Shit Eaters). Perhaps he already had; with people like Snivellus, Avery and Mulciber around him the possibility seemed likely. But what could he do that would help his brother? What could he do to show his brother that he needn't reduce himself to the stereotype attributed to Slytherins; to show him that he could be his own person, not a mindless follower?

During their second year, he broods on these problems more or less alone. But as the winter of their second year bleeds into the summer of their third, he finds his concerns are shared by one other person at least. And the comfort this knowledge brings him is inexpressible.


End file.
